Great Love

There are some stories you hear that stick with you for the rest of your life. For me, it is stories from the past that really impact me; stories of individuals putting aside their own personal comforts, thinking of others and showing incredible compassion.

The "Angel of Marye's Heights" is an excellent example of this.

Picture the scene: the pink, yellow and blue of the early morning sky is making its appearance. This view is a contrast to what the ground holds beneath the brilliant sky. The day before an intense battle between the blue and the gray had raged, leaving approximately seven thousand Union soldiers dying or dead and twelve hundred Confederate casualties.

The morning brought an eerie stillness and quietness; it was hard to believe that just the day before the sounds of shrieks and screams, guns and cannons had echoed through the valley as the Union Army had tried to advance on Marye's Heights in December 1864, but were stopped each time during their fourteen attempts.

Now, many men were silenced, but the moans of those left behind could be heard. Their cries reached the Confederate side and the ears of Sgt. Richard Kirkland and they overwhelmed him. Although he and his fellow soldiers had been ordered to hold the wall at the Heights, he requested permission to tend to the wounded Union soldiers. His request was approved.

Kirkland voluntary went back to the battlefield with all the canteens he could muster up from fellow soldiers. For two hours he went from one wounded Union soldier to another kneeling down beside a man who had been an enemy the day before to give him much needed water and medical attention. I wonder if words passed between them. Were the Union soldiers able to say, "Thank you"? Or, were they too injured to say a thing? Maybe bewilderment struck them when they realized who was showing them such kindness.

Picture the scene: soldiers on both sides on the battlefield watching in amazement the one solider who was demonstrating such self-sacrifice.

General Robert E. Lee once wrote to his wife, "What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world." Sgt. Kirkland demonstrated that love by putting his own life on the line, stepping over that protecting wall and ministering to those on the other side for 90 minutes.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

Sgt. Kirkland is a real life example of this verse in action. Maybe he was thinking of Jesus' words when he made the choice to act on his feeling of compassion.

May this historical illustration be an example to us all.